GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Franklin College baseball team brought the regular season to a close on Sunday (May 7) afternoon, taking on the Defiance Yellow Jackets on Senior Day at Center Grove HS.
The Grizzlies (30-10, 18-4 HCAC) capped off the regular season with a sweep of the Yellow Jackets (4-34, 1-21 HCAC), taking game one 13-3 in seven innings and game two by an 8-2 score.
Between games, the program honored its two seniors playing in front of a home crowd for the final time in
Jonathan LaGuire-Cruz and
Sean Thomas.
Game One: Franklin 13 – Defiance 3 (7 inn.)
Franklin took the lead for good with a six-run first inning, starting with an RBI single from
Sean Sullivan and continuing with a two-run single from
Noah Wood, an RBI single from
Garrett DeHart and a two-run home run from
Luke Willmann.
The Jackets battled to get back within 6-3 before
Tysen Lipscomb snapped a scoreless drought with an RBI triple in the fourth. Lipscomb and Willmann each went deep in the sixth and LaGuire-Cruz added an RBI single as part of a seven-run inning that put the game away.
LaGuire-Cruz got the start and tossed three innings before
Gavin White (1-0) logged the final four frames to earn the second win of his college career. Five different Griz position players finished with two hits and Willmann knocked in five runs to pace the offense.
Game Two: Franklin 8 – Defiance 2
Thomas kicked off the scoring in game two, driving home two with a triple in the bottom of the second inning. Defiance cut the Franklin lead in half in the fourth but the Griz padded their lead in the bottom of the inning when Willmann hit his third home run of the afternoon to make it a 4-1 game. Franklin put the game out of reach with a four-run seventh inning courtesy of two sac flies and two bases-loaded walks.
LaGuire-Cruz and DeHart had two hits each and Franklin's offense worked 11 free passes in the game.
Dylan Sprong got the start and tossed three innings before turning things over to
Aidan Ray (1-0) and
Mason Rohlman for the final six innings, with Ray tossing four innings of relief to earn the first win of his career.
Up Next
The Griz are off to Kokomo, Ind. on May 11-14 for the 2023 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament. Franklin will play the winner of the #3/#6 matchup on Thursday afternoon with first pitch tentatively set for 4:30 p.m.